Excerpt:
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), one of two Muslims serving in Congress, recently claimed that opposition to the planned Lower Manhattan mosque is not led by 9/11 families, but by birthers and religious bigots.
In an interview with BBC Radio that aired Monday, Ellison sought to undermine opponents of the proposed Islamic center to be built two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"The fact is that the real driver of this thing is not 9/11 families," he said. "The people who are leading the anti-mosque effort ... are people who openly proclaim that Barack Obama is not a citizen. The real organizers of this thing are people who are just proponents of religious bigotry. Nothing more, nothing less."